While commemorating its 250th anniversary, the town in 1963 buried a time capsule in the front lawn of Town Hall to be unearthed 50 years later during the tercentennial celebration.

The town’s 300th birthday festivities are well underway – but with one problem - no one can pinpoint the exact location of the historic cache.

Two people who were standing in front of Town Hall when the time capsule was put in the ground – Mickey Rojee and Joanne Beksha – said they thought it was on the left side of the lawn, in front of the sidewalk leading into the building.

"We had ground-penetrating radar come in, and they found anomalies, so I was hopeful. But we hand-dug two holes and nothing turned up," Tom Holder, Department of Public Services director, said Wednesday.

Word of the missing time capsule quickly spread through social media, as current and past Medway residents are taking to the "Retro Medway" Facebook page to offer suggestions and memories of where it may be hidden.

A photograph from 1963 currently hanging in Town Hall corroborates Rojee and Beksha, at it shows the building decorated with patriotic bunting and a float in the shape of cake and a kangaroo court display for photos on the front lawn, about where the flag pole is now located.

"By looking at the picture from that era, it looks like the sidewalk was in a different area, and there was grass where the current sidewalk is, so we tunneled in a little bit, but nothing," Holder said. "With the kangaroo court and the cake float on the right side, they probably wouldn’t have buried (the capsule) there."

Using the witness accounts and photo to rule out the right side of the lawn, Holder said they strictly dug on the left, in between the large Sanford Hall marker and sidewalk.

"There’s also a theory that when the sidewalk was done, the capsule may have been found and relocated, so I might be looking for something that isn’t even there," Holder said. "But that would have been done in the late 1980s or '90s, and I think someone who’s still in town would be privy to that."

Holder said the historical society has no record of the time capsule, and some of the senior residents with sharp memories, such as Michael Matondi, were serving in the Vietnam War in 1963, and therefore weren’t around.

DPS easily found the 275th anniversary capsule buried at Matondi Square, and it was opened for the first time at Family Day last Saturday – when talk of the capsule from 1963 spurred on the search.

"I love this kind of stuff, so we fronted the money to have the radar company come in, but it’s been a bust," Holder said. "The ground penetrating radar is better with metal, and for all we know it’s in a wooden box. At this point, unless I get better information, I’ve dug as much as I can."

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Some residents have expressed concern that the capsule may have gotten dug up and discarded when the town installed gas and water lines, but Holder said there’s no indication that it was buried near the utilities.

Anyone with information on the missing time capsule should contact DPS at 508-533-3275.

Jessica Trufant can be reached at 508-634-7556 or JTrufant@wickedlocal.com.